Amit Shah on Tuesday accused Mamata Banerjee of helping infiltrators enter India for electoral benefits and asserted that once the BJP formed the government in Bengal, not a bird would be able to cross the border.

“Once our government, under the leadership of Narendra Modi, comes to power in Bengal, a strong national security grid will be created that will completely end infiltration into Bengal. Such a robust grid will be put in place that not only infiltrators, but even a bird, will not be able to cross the border. The BJP government will not only stop infiltration but will also work to detect and deport intruders and oust them from India,” the Union home minister said while addressing a press conference at a Salt Lake hotel on Tuesday morning.

Although Shah had spoken on infiltration many times before, multiple BJP leaders said amid the current strife in Bangladesh, his strong emphasis on the issue made it clear that the party would fight next year’s elections primarily on illegal entry of Bangladeshis, along with corruption, women’s security and law and order in Bengal.

A security guard near the Bangladesh border in Malda district File picture

Whenever the BJP has flagged the issue of infiltration, the ruling Trinamool Congress has repeatedly maintained that if anyone is to blame, it is Shah, as the BSF under the home ministry guards the Bangladesh border and not the state government (See Page 13).

During the press conference, Shah said parts of the border remained unsecured because the Mamata Banerjee government had refused to provide land to the Union government.

“Infiltration cannot be stopped unless fencing is completed along the border. Without fencing, the BSF cannot prevent infiltration. At my level, I wrote seven letters to Mamata Banerjee. The (Union) home secretary visited Bengal three times and held meetings with the chief secretary (over the land along the frontier),” Shah said.

“I want to ask the TMC government what the reason is behind not providing land for fencing along the border. Or do you want infiltration to continue? If infiltrators enter Bengal through porous borders or rivers, where do they go first? Can they survive without the support of the local police or rural body officials? The Bengal government has been preparing fake documents for these infiltrators. Documents recovered from infiltrators arrested across the country have been issued in Bengal,” he added.

The No 2 in the Narendra Modi government directly accused Trinamool and the chief minister of accepting infiltrators as part of a policy to secure vote banks.

“That is why we say the TMC cannot stop infiltration. The demography of Bengal is changing alarmingly,” Shah said, adding that infiltration was not only a concern for Bengal but had become a serious national security threat.

The BJP and the broader saffron ecosystem have been pitching a narrative that Bengal could face a situation similar to Bangladesh, where Hindus were attacked by Islamist forces, if the Mamata government continued for five more years.

“The BJP has already tested the corruption issue in earlier elections. Though he (Shah) highlighted corruption and women’s security in detail on Tuesday, the main focus of his address was infiltration. Amit ji has set the tone for the election, centring it on infiltration,” said a senior BJP leader.

During his recent visit to Calcutta, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had also said the situation in Bengal could change over time if Hindus remained united, and asserted that the Union government should work to help Hindus in Bangladesh.

Shah, on Tuesday afternoon, held a coordination meeting with senior RSS leaders in Calcutta, indicating that the BJP wanted to work in tandem with the Sangh to bring about political change in Bengal.

There is political whispering among sections of the public, including some BJP workers, that the party’s top leadership — such as Narendra Modi and Amit Shah — had an understanding with Trinamool, which allegedly helped Mamata remain politically secure for a long time.

Shah, however, sought to dismiss this narrative at the press conference by reiterating that infiltration was the core issue and asserting that the BJP’s goal — shared by both him and the Prime Minister — was to uproot Trinamool from power in Bengal.

“No BJP leader can support those who give shelter to infiltrators. It is our target, including that of Modi ji, to uproot the TMC government,” Shah said, claiming that the BJP would come to power in Bengal with a two-thirds majority.

Politics of shrines

Amit Shah told the press
conference that the politics of temples and mosques was being pursued by Trinamool in Bengal. He said that while Mamata had been inaugurating temples, her former MLA (Humayun Kabir) was setting up the Babri mosque.

The home minister criticised the move by Mamata to set up Hindu religious sites like Jagannath temple in Digha and Durga Angan in Calcutta. Shah said that though he always supported setting up temples, Mamata was late in doing so.